Forgetting items in a hotel room: do they ever get returned???
 

Has anyone ever had a hotel return an item left behind after check out? Did they contact you proactively, or was it only after alerting them of the issue?

I have been pretty lucky for most of my life in avoiding this, but I just had my second episode in the last three months (maybe I am finally losing my mind???). I always tip housekeeping, and I do everything I can to clean up after myself, so as not to be a burden. But having just had a second item stolen within a few months of each other, my sympathy for the housekeeping staff is wearing thin. As a blue collar slob myself, I have a much greater appreciation for blue collar workers than anyone else. I understand they are underpaid and under-appreciated, but at least where I live (California), they are unionized and have a basic wage above minimum wage (currently >$17.55/hour). In the most recent incident (Palm Springs), we even left a nice simple note along with the tip to show our appreciation (it was a one night stay, so they did not service the room at all while it was occupied).

The first time, I left behind a hydration backpack inside a drawer in my hotel room. I realized what happened less than two hours after checkout, and I promptly returned to the hotel immediately to reconcile my error (I live about a mile from the hotel, and was only staying there because there was a music festival on-site). The FD agent was very courteous and escorted me to the room, only to see that the room had been service and my bag had been removed from the drawer where I had stashed it. It was never turned in, so obviously it was "acquired" by the housekeeping staff, presumably as a gift or to resell. Most recently, I left a newly acquired coat in a coat closet (off-brand purchased on clearance for $40). I contacted the hotel 5 hours later, but of course, it was long gone by then. Both of these hotels are at least 3-3.5* hotels, and the rate was in excess of $350/night. Am I just incredibly naive for assuming that honesty and decency would exist in any form in 2024?? I can say that the next time I am packing up my room, I will spend more time going through the cabinets and less time giving a damn about the housekeeping staff.

I think it’s hard to know. The best we can do is ask the front desk staff for help. Chances are that the objects won’t get returned. It’s hard. Indeed we guests must carefully check just like when we depart an airplane or return a rental car.

sorry for the loss of your objects.

I still tip housekeeping even in California. It’s very dirty work for however much they earn. It’s just dirty work

I have left items in the plane on international flight, in a taxi, and hotel room. I haven't always gotten the items back but in at least some of each of those cases - I did.

So... it depends.

I’m still super salty at AA - left my eyeglasses on a flight and realized it shortly after when I got to Global Entry kiosk. Had someone radio up to the crew within 10min of deplaning and I knew exactly where they were in my J seat. Somehow they couldn’t find them. Never showed up afterward either even though my name is laser engraved on the titanium frame and it’s a custom color.

On the other side, I left a really nice pair of gloves my then gf (now wife) had just given me at the Hertz return counter at JAC. They found them and couldn’t have been nicer about sending them back.

The Marriott Rive Gauche in Paris shipped me a box of the material I left behind a few years ago. And I've gone back through security to the gate to get something I left on board a couple of times. I've probably left something behind that wasn't returned, but nothing significant enough that I remember trying to track it down.

Left a fairly nice watch on the nightstand at a Minneapolis hotel some years back. It wasn't my last day there, so I don't know what would have happened if I had left it and checked out, but it was there when I got back that evening. Given that the housekeeper couldn't possibly not have seen it and didn't take it, I suspect I would have gotten it back, though. (Wish I could remember what hotel it was to give them a shout-out here, but I don't. I worked for Honeywell at the time and it was during one of my non-infrequent trips to corporate HQ.)

Left two items on airplanes that I remember. One was a library book on a plane when I connected somewhere in the southwestern U.S. - PHX or DFW, doesn't matter. Got a call from AA that afternoon. Said I'd connect through some other airport on my return east a few days later. They had it waiting for me there. (I don't know if they would have done it for anyone, but I was Executive Platinum at the time and could have received special treatment.) The other was an iPod, back when iPods were cool, that my late wife left in a seat pocket in São Paulo when all the passengers who boarded in Rio had to disembark and re-board to leave Brazil. We returned to the same seat less than an hour later, but it was gone. Permanently. Also, not on an airplane, but I left a decently expensive digital camera on an airport bus in Iceland once. After looking all over for it, including going back to the same bus, I gave up and we went through security. It was waiting for us at the screening station. So - two for three, with the lost item being in the middle as regards value.

Expensive custom frames are valuable to a dishonest person who found them...

My best story was when I left a small bag (just clothes) on Cathay Pacific flight when I tranferred in HKG and I was in economy. I didn't realize it until I got into terminal, and customer service at HKG airport was helpful. They wouldn't let me back on the plane given I already cleared transfer checkpoint but CX promised to deliver it to me in Boston instead. I went back to airport 3 days later - the airline delivered as promised.

There are still helpful/honest folks out there despite the OP's poor experience.

I think I’m batting two for four. A most frustrating occurrence was a drawer full of toys - my 7 year old had unpacked his bag and forgot all about the toys in the nightstand drawer. I returned within 30 minutes. The room had been cleaned. And, no sir, nothing was found in a drawer.

I might suggest that being unionized and having a basic wage above minimum (and this is only in certain regions) has no bearing on the morality of what I'll call the "typical hotel housekeeper" and the rate paid and hotel quality probably don't, either.

Years ago I left a shirt in one hotel, and a fancy Garmin GPS in another back when that was a thing, both were returned to me.

I once left a small tablet (8") in the Hilton Tokyo... I missed it later in the trip but didn't really hunt through things until at the airport on the last day. I emailed right away, and they said that yes, it had been found by Housekeeping, and that they could post it to me if I covered the postage (and going Japan->US, the postage was actually pretty small, something like $15 for FedEx, whereas the same package going US->Japan would have cost me closer to $100 to send).

My wife left her cell phone in a room in a nice hotel in Barranquilla, Colombia. Never seen again; our local guide spoke with the hotel manager, but no one reported finding it.

And we once left a couple of homemade scarves and Valentine's cards in a Hampton Inn in ABQ... inquired, but they never turned up. I was a bit surprised someone just kept a couple of crocheted scarves.

Twice I've left an iPad in the seat pocket. Once, I was paged while still airside and ran back for it, and the other, I picked it up at SEA the next day from lost & found.

Left an iPod in the seat pocket on a Swiss ZRH/EWR flight. Never saw it again.

Forgot some gift tchotchkes in a bag under the seat in front. Nope. "We didn't find anything." The f you didn't... enjoy those $20 Funko figs tho.

Left some chargers and cables in a shabby Candlewood (isn't that all of them?)... they held them at the front desk for a local friend to pick up and post to me.

Overall, not bad. Still salty about that iPod as it was the last generation made...

I left a phone charger once. I also left my bag at the front desk. The hotel diligently put the charger on top of my bag once they found it. Thanks to the front desk clerk for being proactive :)

Sometimes. I had to switch rooms due to an environmental issue and left a pair of dress shoes in the closet. When I needed them a couple of days later I realized the mistake. Fortunately they'd been turned into at the front desk and I didn't have to wear running shoes to a wedding.

I've left a few items in hotel rooms. I've always recovered them after I inquired, though my mileage in each case did vary:

Once it was a set of 4 shirts I left rolled in the closet. Getting those was easy as I returned to the hotel less than 2 hours after leaving, and the room hadn't yet been serviced.

Another time I left my electric shaver in the bathroom. When I called the hotel, they confirmed it had been turned in and asked me how I'd like to get it. I asked if they could ship it to me, using my credit card on file, and charge me the actual shipping cost plus a reasonable handling fee. The hotel manager (whom I was already speaking to on the phone) agreed. But then their turnaround with shipping with slower than I expected, so for next-day shipping cost I got it 3 days later. :rolleyes:

The most dramatic recovery was of a stuffed animal that has enormous sentimental value to a family member. It got left on the bed when we checked out. I phoned the hotel several times that day, speaking to multiple staff members including the housekeeping manager, who all swore they checked the room and/or checked with housekeeping and couldn't find it. Finally on about my 5th call, I was speaking to the hotel manager and pleaded my case: that a child was had been sobbing for hours over an irreplaceable loss, that I was the villain (it was "my" responsibility not to leave that stuffed animal under a bed sheet), and couldn't she help me be the hero and restore peace to my family? She made one extra effort, and sure enough there it was: the stuffed animal had already gone through the laundry with the sheets and was sitting on a shelf in the laundry room. I drove back to the hotel, about an hour out of my way, to collect it.